KNBR offers to air 49ers -- KGO still in the mix, too

Published 4:00 am, Friday, February 4, 2005

Within the next 10 days or so, we likely will know if the 49ers will keep KGO (810 AM) as their flagship station, or if the team and the station will part company after an 18-year run.

That 10-day estimate comes from two men who ought to know: Mickey Luckoff, the general manager of KGO, and Tony Salvadore, the senior vice president for both KNBR (680 AM) and KTCT (1050 AM).

Late last week, it was reported that KGO was ending its relationship with the 49ers. On Thursday, Luckoff said that in the fall, the station simply had exercised an option to drop the final two years of a five-year contract, and that KGO and the 49ers have continued to try to work out a new deal.

Salvadore acknowledged making what he termed "a fairly smart offer" for the rights to carry the 49ers' broadcasts, but he was quick to add, "I can tell you this: I'm not outbidding anybody."

KGO and KNBR/KTCT apparently aren't the only stations in the running for the 49ers. Sources say at least one station has made an offer and one other either has done so or soon might.

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The 49ers declined to make any public comments about the negotiations.

The team plans to sell the advertising time for the broadcasts next season, and that's one item that has changed the dynamics of the deal with KGO. Also, the fact the 49ers were 2-14 in the 2004 season could not have done much for KGO's ratings.

Some items to consider:

-- From the 49ers' perspective, is it best to extend that 18-year relationship with KGO, the Bay Area's top-rated station; go to KNBR/KTCT to be on all-sports stations, or switch to another outlet that isn't as prominent but might make the 49ers a centerpiece of its programming?

-- How would KNBR, the Giants' flagship station, handle carrying the 49ers in August, September and however long the Giants are able to play into October? A probable scenario would have the 49ers on 1050 when there's a conflict with a Giants broadcast, and the 49ers also probably would be simulcast throughout the season on KSAN (107.7 FM), which -- like KNBR and KTCT -- is part of Susquehanna Radio Corp. Salvadore talked about an "AM/FM component" of his offer.

-- If KGO no longer airs the 49ers, what happens to the broadcast team of Joe Starkey and Gary Plummer? Starkey began doing the team's play-by-play in 1989, and Plummer joined him in the booth as an analyst in 1998, after Wayne Walker retired.

Starkey is the sports director at KGO, but if the 49ers wanted him to stay as their play-by-play man on another station, Luckoff said, "Joe is a free agent. We wouldn't get in his way." For his part, Salvadore said the choice of the broadcasters would be "the (49ers') call. ... They're the ones paying the salaries."

Meanwhile, the Raiders' broadcast rights also are available. After spending seven seasons on KTCT, the Raiders last year signed a one-year deal with KSFO (560 AM), KGO's sister station.

Raiders senior administrator Artie Gigantino said he expects the team will stay with KSFO. "It was a great marriage last season," Gigantino said, "and we are talking to them, but we're talking to other people, too."

Super experience: When asked during a conference call Tuesday if he thought the Patriots' experience in two of the past three Super Bowls will give them an edge on the Eagles, Fox's Troy Aikman answered, "I think it's overrated. ... I don't think experience in the playoffs or Super Bowl is a factor at all."

Aikman mentioned his first Super Bowl (XXVII) as a player, when Dallas waltzed to a 52-17 victory over Buffalo, which had been in the previous two Super Bowls.

Buck said the magnitude of the Super Bowl won't prevent him from occasionally trying to steer the booth conversation into a little levity.

"The main thing is to just try to keep it moving and keep it light at times," Buck said, "but light doesn't always mean funny, or trying to be funny. It can mean not treating every play within the course of a three-hour-plus football game as the end-all play.

"We certainly don't cram it in, but ... I think you can't be scared to try to have fun with things, too."

Not only is Buck working his initial Super Bowl, he is also calling a New England game for the first time.

The radio broadcast team is play-by-play man Marv Albert and analyst Boomer Esiason. Both KNBR and KTCT have the game broadcast and the pregame show, beginning at 1 p.m. KTCT actually starts its Super Bowl programming at 11 a.m.

Briefly: Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers is one of the eight participants in the "College All-Stars Skills Challenge," a one-hour program on KTVU (Channel 2) beginning at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The competition was taped Monday in Miami. ... Joe Montana and Jon Gruden are among the alleged "singers" of "Tomorrow" in a commercial promoting the NFL Network. The spot will run during the Super Bowl telecast.

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